expressions of appreciation
by sunny-umbrella
Summary: Honestly, Arakita is so fed up with Fuku-chan and his ridiculous ideas. That guy needs help. (exactly which guy needs help is up to interpretation.)


**[rated T because Arakita has no filter and swears like a sailor]**

**lily introduced me to yowapeda. and then i got trapped and fell into bike hell hell yeah *cries***

**. . .**

It was the second day of the of the Inter-High, and Arakita was already fed up with everyone.

Izumida, who usually said ABU every couple minutes, couldn't stop, going like some fucked-up record player or something. The first year was gone, probably doing some sort of mountain voodoo or whatever shit he was usually up to. Shinkai was busy restocking his energy bar supply at the store or whatever, and before that, he had been frantically texting one of the first years that he had put in charge of Usakicchi. That nerd.

And, of course, Toudou was pulling the usual shit he did with that green-haired freak, except worse because he was _actually here_. Which meant that he somehow thought that it was a good idea to bounce all of his incredibly lame date ideas off of Arakita. Everyone else had mysteriously disappeared.

_God-fucking-damnit_, he thought furiously, as Toudou prattled on and on about some restaurant he had researched. Three fucking years of working his ass off to get here, and now he had to listen to this lovey-dovey dumbass gush about his love life.

"Shut up, headband freak!" he roared, temper snapping. "No one cares a shit about what that green dude wants to eat!"

Toudou frowned at him. "But Arakita, it's important! I need to go out and celebrate our last race together with Maki-chan! Sohoku's quite far from here, you know!"

"The fuck if I care." Arakita stood up, stalking out the door. "Go complain about your goddamn restaurant problems to fairy freak."

"Manami? But that kid's not—" He slammed the room door behind him, and there was blessed silence for a moment. As he headed down the hallway, he could hear muffled squawks of indignation come from Toudou.

As soon as he stepped foot outside, he almost turned tail and went back inside. Being in the mountains meant that it was fucking _cold _at night. His legs were still trembling from the day's grueling endurance ride, and he scowled, looking around for a bench.

There was one a little ways away, under a light post. A familiar figure was sitting on it, back turned to him. Arakita felt a grin curl onto his face, and he cupped his hands around his mouth to yell.

"Oi, Fuku-chan!" The man on the bench turned around at the shout. Arakita saw two furrowed eyebrows, and the unamused face of one Fukutomi Juichi.

"Arakita," he replied simply. His face was scrunched up more than usual, as if he was worrying about something. Arakita felt a sting of concern—very small. Barely there. Today had been the second day, and Arakita knew that the ace had had some sort of PTSD from last year, and he had thought that stone-face had gotten over it, but...

He sighed, regretting his slip in character already. He looked off to the side. "Oi, Fuku-chan, are you alright?" Scratching his head, he stole a glance at the ace, who was frowning still.

"Arakita." The authority in his voice made Arakita's spine stiffen. "I need your honest opinion on something."

He looked over; if anything, the furrow between Fukutomi's eyes was worse than before. Something was definitely fucking him up still. "Yeah, whatsit?"

Fukutomi stared at him for a moment longer, and Arakita felt panic well up. What if the stone face was asking something he couldn't answer? Yeah, Arakita sucked at math, but Fukutomi already knew that from their group study sessions. Was he really going to—?

He watched as Fukutomi's eyes darkened with some thought, and he started raising his arm like some fucking—shit! Was this a confession? Did Fukutomi think that a lame-ass anime move would make it easier to answer? The fuck was going on in his fucking—

Fukutomi made a finger gun. "Bang." He jerked it back in slow motion, so slow that Arakita could practically see the shoujo roses blooming into place around him. A smile cracked the stone face and, well. Arakita wasn't going to say it was _sexy _or anything, but with Fukutomi's dark eyes burning into him, and that..._extremely suggestive_ smirk on his face...

"T-the fuck was that, stone face!" he managed to choke out, cringing at how off he sounded. "Are you trying to be some Western outlaw or something?"

The smile vanished, and Fukutomi examined the finger gun he had just made. Arakita continued, trying to ignore the warmth curling into his cheeks as he spoke. "That's so fucking lame, stone face! Who the hell thought that it was alright for you to do that?"

"Toudou and Shinkai utilized the finger gun in pointing at their fans to show appreciation of their support. I believed that I should try the same." He looked at Arakita seriously. "I need to properly show my respect for those who believe in me."

Arakita gaped at him, unable to speak. Was Fuku-chan an actual idiot? Was _he _an idiot, expecting a confession of—he snarled at the thought, jabbing a finger in Fukutomi's direction.

"Do me a favor and don't do that ever again, stone face! That's fucking creepy when you do it!"

Fukutomi's brows furrowed again. "I was only trying to express my gratitude for your hard work."

"Yeah, yeah." Arakita looked away, feeling his cheeks heat up again. "I haven't done shit yet, so no need to do that. Wait til the Inter-High's over."

"I will take your advice into account, Arakita." He heard Fukutomi stand up, and flinched in surprise as a heavy hand rested on his shoulder. "You have a keen instinct. Use it well."

Even though that finger gun shit was just ridiculous, it was still rare for anybody to draw a complement from stone face. He grinned. "Thanks, Fuku-chan."

The hand withdrew, and Fukutomi stepped passed him, heading to their rooms. Arakita followed, shoving his hands into his pockets. It was a quick and efficient journey; no unnecessary speaking, just the shuffle of socks and bare feet across polished wood. They arrived at the rooms in good time, and Arakita went forward to open the door. It was flung open before he even touched the doorknob, and Arakita belatedly remembered why he had left in the first place, looking at a pissed-off Toudou.

"Arakita! Did you know that Maki-chan declined my offer to buy him dinner today? He said he needed to stay with his team!" A pout was spread firmly across Toudou's face, hair all messed up from frustration. "Oh, good! Fuku-chan, what do you think I should—"

Arakita watched confusedly as his face crumpled into horror, before looking over to—

"Bang."

"Fucking—" Arakita grabbed Fukutomi's arm, forcing it down by the side of his body. "—hell, stone face, it's creepy and disgusting! Stop!" When would this idiot realize how damn creepy that was? He turned to Toudou, still petrified in shock. "Yo, hairband freak, tell stone face that it's creepy!"

"Fuku-san..." Toudou shook his head mechanically. "Don't ever. Please."

"I will consider your—"

"God damnit, Fuku-chan, don't consider not doing it, _just don't fucking do it!_"

"Hm..."

"Fucking dumbass! Why do you have to think about it? Even Toudou thinks it's—" He heard the sound of padding feet echoing down the hallway, and cursed as he saw interest light up in Fukutomi's eyes.

"Oh, Fukutomi-san! I was just—"

Izumida was too late and too clueless to be saved.

"Bang."

"W-w-wha—" Poor eyelash freak. He really didn't need to see this side of Fukutomi yet. Arakita glared at the yellow-haired bastard.

"Fuku-chan..."

Stone face looked back at him. "I'm showing my—"

"Dumbass! You just scarred eyelash freak for life!"

"Control your urges!" Toudou added, seemingly recovered. "The pointing lowers your rating to at least a four! Do you want to be ranked the same as megane-chan from Sohoku?"

"...That's besides the point, Toudou." Arakita sighed, running his hands through his hair. "Okay. Fine. Fuku-chan, you know you can just _say _that you appreciate us instead of being all creepy like that?"

"I am aware of the fact." Fucking damnit. That stone face never budged, did it.

"Then just tell us! Pointing is too much effort anyways!" He pointed at Toudou. "Only idiots like him do it!"

"Excuse you! I am most certainly—"

"I guess I missed something interesting, huh." Arakita turned to see Shinkai leaning against the doorway. "What happened?"

Arakita lunged for Fukutomi, just barely managing to pin his arms to his sides. "Don't you fucking dare, Fuku-chan!"

"Oh, Shinkai, it's been dreadful!" Toudou wailed.

Shinkai stared at Arakita, still clinging to Fukutomi. "I...see."

Arakita was a fucking idiot. He let go of Fukutomi, holding his hands up. "Shinkai, look, Fukutomi's been—"

"Bang."

_Arakita was a fucking idiot._

"Okay, fine! I fucking give up." Arakita stalked out of the room, roughly pushing past Shinkai. "Point as much as your friggin' heart desires! Watch me care!"

His head was hurting from the sheer idiocy of Fukutomi. Seriously, who could be that stupid? How?

A few minutes later, he spotted a vending machine. He couldn't get the Bepsi fast enough, popping the tab and downing half of it in one go.

His heart was still racing from being so close to Fukutomi. Damn. Didn't the dude know he was decent enough as is?

But then again, Fukutomi never knew anything. He finished the can and crumpled it. He was one of the most amazing aces Arakita had ever pulled for (granted, he had only ever pulled for Fuku-chan) and even his blonde hair was kind of nice. It was probably all bedhead, or stiff gel spikes. Arakita didn't bother asking. The fact that he had a..a _crush _was embarrassing enough as is.

He tossed the can in the trash, and took a deep breath. The idiots were probably all still there, Fukutomi still being the clueless idiot he was. He shoved his hands in his pockets again, heading back to the room.

Maybe he should try to save Manami from the atrocity, at the very least.

**. . .**

**can also be thought of as the fic in which krail thought, 'hey, that omake for ride.14 was so ridiculous it needs a fic!'**

**and also this ship is so precious someone come save me or alternatively come and cry with me**


End file.
